Cardinals’ Nootbaar, Boston’s Yoshida in Japan’s WBC team

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Japan has completed naming its 30-man roster for the World Baseball Classic that includes St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar and Boston Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida. Nootbaar has a Japanese mother but grew up in California and does not speak Japanese. He is the first to play for Japan in the WBC who qualifies because of his ancestry. Japan announced its first 12 members last month. They include MLB players such as Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish and Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki. Japan faces China in Tokyo on March 9 in its opening game.